Maini Tops Wet Second Norisring Practice

Arjun Maini set the fastest time for Mercedes-AMG Team HRT in the second DTM practice session at Norisring, which took place under wet conditions.

Maini came out on top in his No. 36 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, setting a best lap of 54.057s to go fastest.

He remained ahead of series debutant Frank Perera by 0.105 seconds as the Frenchman leaped up to second place as the checkered flag dropped.

The No. 19 Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo set a 54.162, which dropped Maro Engel’s No. 88 Mercedes to third.

Maini and Engel were part of a number of drivers that made their way to the top of the timing sheets as they found their feet around the wet Nuremburg street venue.

Dennis Olsen, Nico Mueller, Ricardo Feller and Ayhancan Guven all led proceedings at some point, although all four drivers ended the session in the lower half of the top ten.

Olsen’s best effort of 52.241 left him sixth behind Luca Stolz and teammate Laurens Vanthoor, while Mueller was seventh, Guven eighth and Feller ninth.

The top ten was rounded out by Mirko Bortolotti, who was 0.481 seconds down on Maini but remained clear of Marius Zug, Philipp Eng and Rene Rast.

Mikael Grenier and Felipe Fraga rounded out the top 15, which was covered by 0.862 seconds.

Despite the difficult conditions, the 45-minute session remained green throughout without any notable incidents.

Twenty-one out of 27 drivers set lap times during the session.

Notably Thomas Preining sat out second practice after topping the opening session.

Kelvin van der Linde also did not go out, as well as Esteban Muth, Marco Wittmann, Lucas Auer and Clemens Schmid.

DTM running continues with grouped qualifying, which kicks off on Saturday morning at 9:40 a.m CEST (3:40 a.m. ET).